Mindlab - Action reflections

Tuesday 31 July 2018

Mindlab Week 1 Digital

21st Century Skills
This set of 21st century skills is published by the World Economic Forum (2015). Which of these skills do you think will be essential:
  • For you on this programme?
  • Your students as you change your practice?
What do you hope to achieve during the 32 weeks of this programme?
The Illusion of Knowledge
Linking Standards for the Teaching Profession
Teaching - Use an increasing repertoire of teaching strategies, approaches, learning activities, technologies and assessment for learning strategies and modify these in response to the needs of individuals and groups of learners

Mindlab Week 2 Digital

Innovative Teaching and Learning (ITL) 21st Century Skills



Many skills frameworks seem to converge on a common set of 21st century skills (collaboration, communication, ICT literacy, and social and/or cultural competencies, including citizenship). Most frameworks also mention creativity, critical thinking and problem solving). However, many different terms are used (Voogt & Roblin, 2010).
These are the 21st Century Skills that ITL Research (2012) decided were important.
  • Collaboration
  • Knowledge construction
  • Self-regulation
  • Real-world problems / innovations
  • ICT for learning
  • Skilled Communication
We might contrast these with the key competencies of the NZ curriculum. "More complex than skills, the competencies draw also on knowledge, attitudes, and values in ways that lead to action" (MoE, 2017):
  • Thinking
  • Using language, symbols & texts
  • Managing self
  • Relating to others
  • Participating and contributing
and with the 21st Century Competencies from the World Economic Forum (2015), sometimes known as the 4 C's:
  • Critical thinking / problem-solving
  • Creativity
  • Communication
  • Collaboration
It is worth noting that collaboration-related concepts appear in two of the key competencies (MoE, 2017):
Relating to others: Students who relate well to others... know when it is appropriate to compete and when it is appropriate to co-operate.
Participating and contributing: This competency includes a capacity to contribute appropriately as a group member
Related Standards for the Teaching Profession
Teaching
Teach in ways that enable learners to learn from one another, to collaborate, to self-regulate and to develop agency over their learning.

Mindlab Week 1 Leadership

Followership 
There is a growing body of work that makes clear that some followers can be more influential than others. 

Followership Styles
Kelley (1998) identifies two ways that people follow: 
  1. Do they think for themselves? Are they independent critical thinkers? Or do they look to the leader to do the thinking for them? 
  2. Are they actively engaged in creating positive energy for the organization? Or is there negative energy or passive involvement?

Authentic followership
If we say that we want out followers to be effective, what kind of characteristics do these followers have? Avolio and Reichard (2008) discuss what they call 'authentic' followership, and characterise it with the following features:
  • Psychological Ownership - Sense of ownership, taking responsibility, going beyond the minimum to do what is required
  • Trust - Admitting mistakes and encouraging their leaders to do the same, taking on challenges without being asked
  • Transparency - Honesty, feedback and effective communication, putting the needs of the group above their own concerns